Graceful Rewrite part 4
Grace has rewritten your story. And the only way what's come before matters at all is when we learn from it. It can't hold us back. It can't negatively affect us. Because if God forgot it... it's forgotten. Now people WILL probably try to use your past against you. But we have a saying in my family, "Why you bringing up old stuff?" Where I've been isn't where I'm at. I'm moved forward. Upward and God-ward. I'm not who I used to be. And I'm not trying to be someone else. I'm the real me. I preached this verse last night and it's stuck in my heart so I'm going to keep preaching it until my heart is empty of it. Romans 1:19, "Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them." Did you catch it? That which is known of God--the truth that sets us free and makes us free--is manifest IN us... for God hath shewed it TO us. Everything that needed to happen has happened. The work is finished. Grace rewrote our story 2,000 years ago on the cross. Don't wait for your rewrite. And don't try to do it yourself. Just leave all that junk behind. Lay aside the sin (unbelief) that so easily besets you. A seed was planted in you. When Jesus was lifted up from the earth He drew all men into Himself and He planted Himself in all men. God poured out His Spirit on all flesh. And a seed has everything it needs inside it. Give it some water, some sun (Son), some good ground, and it will grow. It will bear much fruit. What's inside WILL come out... when you know and believe it's in there. And knowing and believing is faith. And faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God. God shows us who we are by showing us who HE is. He shows us what's inside us--love--and then it manifests. Let me quote one of my favorite verses--I know, I know, they're all my favorite--that goes right along with this. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2). When He appears to US we see what we really look like. Because we see what HE really looks like. When He appears IN us, and THROUGH us, and AS us. When we stop trying to be like Him and just do what comes naturally to us. We don't have to make up for our past mistakes. I'm telling you, all we have to do is learn from them and let them go. We don't have to keep punishing ourselves when God has already forgiven and forgotten. What's the old saying? Mercy is not getting what you deserve and grace is getting what you don't deserve. In other words, deserve has nothing to do with it. You don't have to--and in fact can't--earn an inheritance. An inheritance is passed down from Father to Son. Not because of what you do, but because of who you are. And when God shows you who you are (and what's in you manifests, or comes out) that's the final word on the matter. That's the TRUE story. You don't have to try to be someone you're not. And, really, you don't have to try to "figure out" who you are. God will show you. He'll reveal Himself (your true self) to you. And He'll do it by loving the hell out of you. Because that's who He is. And that's who you are. Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. No other story can compare, and no other story matters!